ACTIVITY AREAS

Resources on writing successful JISC bids (updated)

Christina Smart
Last modified
01 Jul, 2008
Published
01 Jul, 2008

It’s that time of year again – bid writing time. Given the number of JISC calls for proposals that are out at the moment I thought I’d update an article I published last year with some links to resources on how to write a good bid.

Current Calls

There are a number of JISC funding calls in the e-learning area at the moment. Current calls include:

In addition to these calls new calls are being issued all the time on the JISC web site. Further information about other JISC funding opportunities as well as a roadmap for future funding can be found at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities.aspx

For those people putting together a proposal for the curriculum delivery call the "resources from the Community briefing also include a section on the differences between the two calls as well as a useful summary of the questions asked at the event.

JISC Infonet resources

When writing a proposal it is important to be aware of previous work in the area, to check that your proposal will be breaking new ground. JISC Infonet have a number of infokits which provide a useful way into previous work in a number of areas. Also, the Project Management, Risk Management and Information Management infokits can help with thinking through project infrastructure.

It is also worth remembering that JISC has a comprehensive range of national infrastructure services which may have synergy with your proposal. The full list of JISC Services is at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/services.aspx.

ALT workshops

The ALT run a very popular workshop on Bidding and Winning. The workshop ran this year in May and is worth looking out for on next year's programme.

Analysis of bids from previous calls

In some cases the JISC have asked external advisers to analyse bid submitted under previous calls to provide feedback on some of the common mistakes that people submitting bids make.

Partnerships: "Bids should demonstrate that partnerships exist because mutual and/or shared benefits would arise from the proposed work."

Further advice can be found in Neil Witt's analysis of the 2007 Learner Experiences of e-Learning bids for the JISC (Analysis of Strand A bids)
(Analysis of Strand B bids). Readers will be interested to note how many of the successful bids had missed out key bits of information. Like Mark, Neil stresses that:

"Bids must be explicit in how they meet the requirements of the call".

The report also has a useful final checklist for bid writers to make sure that they've not missed any vital sections out.

We wish all those submitting project proposals to the JISC this summer the best of luck!